The Schomburg Center in New York had a very interesting Black Comic Book Festival this year in January. You can watch the lively debates and panel sessions. I enjoyed many of them and they provide an insight to issues within the industry and what fans are looking for.

Introducing a new fun educational children's program from Colombia. Meet Guilhermina and Candelario! The siblings live on the shores of a beach in their grandparents's house, spending their days playing, discovering new things, and finding creative solutions to problems. Though the show is from Colombia it has received massive support from families in Brazil, as there is very few Brazilian cartoon shows with black leading characters.

The show can now be watched on the Hora da Criança (Children's Hour) , which airs on Monday to Saturday morning on TV Brasil.

Here is what some kids had to say about the show at a launch in Salvador.

Brazil has the biggest black African diaspora outside of Africa. Now, when it comes to children’s media there is very little reflection of this fact. As we are based in Nigeria we didn’t really have any idea just how bad the situation was. That is until we were approached by several English speaking Brazilian fans of Bino & Fino asking if there was a Portuguese version of the show.

Cultural dances play a huge role in African societies. These dance forms are used to teach moral values, social etiquette and to help people mature and celebrate members of the community while celebrating festivals and other occasions.

It is no surprise that there a lack of true positive African voices in the world of children's media. What can children watch, read or play with to learn more about the wonderful continent in a positive genuine way? Not as some afterthought. The key words being 'genuine' , 'educational' , 'entertaining' and 'representative' . I'm not talking about Madagascar or Lion King here. Nothing against Disney but those movies ( or similar) are not what I'm referring to here as they don't really represent Africa in any real way beyond just being set there.

Make it a date this Sunday in London as Black History Walks in partnership with the African edutainment company Obi & Titi will be playing a double bill of the classic cartoon Kirkou .at the Phoenix Cinema.

There will be a 15 interval in between the screenings and a stall to get Obi & Titi books and items.

Brazil has the biggest black African diaspora outside of Africa. Now, when it comes to children’s media there is very little reflection of this fact. As we are based in Nigeria we didn’t really have any idea just how bad the situation was. That is until we were approached by several English speaking Brazilian fans of Bino & Fino asking if there was a Portuguese version of the show.

Cultural dances play a huge role in African societies. These dance forms are used to teach moral values, social etiquette and to help people mature and celebrate members of the community while celebrating festivals and other occasions.

You know that saying that variety is the spice of life? Well one attorney is really taking the meaning to the next level. Meet Kya Johnson, an attorney, who became an entrepreneur, that is bringing diversity to children's programming.

She launched her online entertainment channel RainbowMe in 2014 to tackle the lack of programs that had children of ethnic minorities who were the lead characters.

Here is an excerpt from a feature in The Business Journal:

Racially diverse children from African-American, Latino and Asian backgrounds now make up nearly half the population of 60 million U.S. children under age 12. Yet fewer than 10 percent of entertainment programs directed at children feature protagonists of color, Johnson said.

The more Johnson researched the impact of homogenous programming on children, the more she felt that something needed to be done.

“Kids of color who watch lots of TV develop lower self-esteem because they’re not seeing positive reflections of themselves,” Johnson told the Triad Business Journal. “We want kids to learn about each other, and themselves.”

RainbowMe’s site features cartoons, books and games with boys and girls of color as lead characters. Johnson hopes to include content featuring disabled children in the future.

You can read the full article here and get to know more about the channel at their website.

Brazil has the biggest black African diaspora outside of Africa. Now, when it comes to children’s media there is very little reflection of this fact. As we are based in Nigeria we didn’t really have any idea just how bad the situation was. That is until we were approached by several English speaking Brazilian fans of Bino & Fino asking if there was a Portuguese version of the show.

Cultural dances play a huge role in African societies. These dance forms are used to teach moral values, social etiquette and to help people mature and celebrate members of the community while celebrating festivals and other occasions.

This year we're going to only make 5000 DVDs for the U.S. and countries whose DVD systems are compatible with the U.S. such as Canada. We are also going to do the same for Europe and the U.K. and produce 5000.